UNITED STATES

The crowds were back in Baltimore yesterday as punters returned in droves to the Preakness Stakes, its organisers facing up to the basic truth that what US racing fans really want alongside a punt is cheap tickets, rock bands, a party atmosphere and bikini contests. That, and a bottomless $20 mug of beer.

The second event of American racing's prestigious triple crown (preceded by the hugely well-attended Kentucky Derby at Churchill Downs two weeks ago, which was won by three-year-old Super Saver, and completed at the Belmont Stakes in New York next month) is held at the Pimlico racecourse, whose infield has long-enjoyed a reputation for a boisterous day out. Including, as the Baltimore Sun reports, 2007's infamous "running of the urinals" in which fans who had enjoyed several cold drinks trotted across their personal paddock on the tops of portable toilets as onlookers pelted them with full cans of beer.

As a consequence, last year organisers, fearing embarrassment and liability, attempted to tame the infield by barring spectators from bringing in their own drinks. Inevitably there was considerably less can-can on the can but ticket sales also went down 31% – the lowest turnout in 25 years. Fans such as Jamie Myers, for whom going to the Preakness and letting loose was a Baltimore tradition and who recalls a time when he and his buddies showed up at 6am with two cases of beer both of which were drained by the time the gates opened at 9am, simply stayed away.

Race organisers took notice and this year announced cheaper tickets (infield admission down from $40 to $10), bands, bikinis, a risque ad campaign urging former race-goers to come back and "Get Your Preak On" and, instead of beers costing $3.50 each, for 20 bucks fans can join the "mug club" and receive a 16-ounce mug with unlimited refills. It worked, with ticket sales almost on a par with the 2008 figures.

"New Orleans has Mardi Gras but in Baltimore, Preakness was our event, our day of craziness. I'm going to see if there's a bit of the old Preakness, see if there's still that spirit of 'you never know what you're going to see'." Myers told the Sun whoalso affectionately label itas "A little Sodom. Perhaps a sprinkle of Gomorrah".

Which sometimes, it seems, is exactly what the punters want, as Myers speaks for his city: "I don't want this turning into a Kentucky Derby thing with everyone laidback and sipping cocktails – that's not Baltimore."

Court ruling offers hope amid football turmoil

Kenyan football fans are hoping that a recent decision by the court of arbitration for sport (CAS) could finally bring to an end the political wrangling that has so damaged the game in Nairobi. For the past two years a pair of rival football associations have claimed to be in charge of the sport in Kenya. The CAS upheld a ruling by Fifa that Football Kenya Limited (FKL) should run the game, rather than the Kenyan Football Federation (KFF), reports
Daily Nation.

The fight between the two associations reflects the splits in Kenya's shaky coalition government, with one set of government ministers publicly supporting FKL and another providing secret financial support to the KFF.

The row between the two became increasingly bizarre. Both produced competing sets of fixtures for the Premier League and both tried to organise international friendlies. When the national team coach Francis Kimanzi was sacked by FKL in 2009, officials from the KFF claimed they had reinstated him.

There are, sadly, few good guys in Kenyan football. Senior officials in both organisations have been accused of corruption, including stealing the proceeds of gate receipts and secretly selling players to foreign clubs without the approval of the teams they played for.

FKL's decision to fire Kimanzi, a young Kenyan coach who had taken the team to its highest ever Fifa ranking, proved disastrous. His replacement, a German called Antoine Hey, winning just one match before being fired.

The one bright hope is the Kenyan Premier League, which has recently established itself as an independent body, taken a firm stance against corruption, struck a four-year $5.5m (£3.8m) sponsorship deal with an African satellite broadcaster and attracts crowds of 3,000 to 5,000.

Twitter talk definitively identifies elbow from ass

Being the best and yet on the losing side is hard on sportsmen who are not afraid to point out the unhealthy pressure and scrutiny that come with the gig. But perhaps paranoia isn't entirely unhealthy when your own body parts start voicing their opinions to the world. Via Twitter. Pity, then, for LeBron James, whose Cleveland Cavalier's were defeated in the NBA play-offs 4-2 by the Boston Celtics this week.

Central to the loss was huge debate about James and speculation on how an elbow injury, about which he was reticent to speak, was affecting his play. But it was the Detroit Free Press that brought attention to a Twitter feed that was more than happy to tell it like it is.

LeBronsElbow began tweeting before game one assuring fans: "People of Cleveland calm down and back away from the ledge. I will be fine. Trust in me, I am made of dreams and steel," continuing his updates, medical and mental, throughout the series: "Had a good day. I feel fine but apparently they are going to poke me and do more tests. I hate Doctors, they smell like apricots."

Petty revenge was on the menu after losing game two: "Bedtime. Not gunna lie I'm pretty bummed. So to cheer myself up I glued LeBron's head to his pillow," while the treatment continued: "MRI at the clinic. Great. Terrific. Just keep the radiation coming. When my first child is born it's going to have 7 nipples and a mustache." And the inside stories expanded to include updates from other celebrity sporting body parts: "Yes I know Tiger's Neck. Yes I know how he got hurt. No I can't tell you it involved a bunk bed and a stripper named Lady Lumps."

Increasingly at odds with his "human" the Elbow then threw caution to the wind: "A woman just asked LeBron for an autograph, he put his hand on her head and autographed her brain," before its last comment after losing the final game: "This sucks so much. Queen Elizabeth once said 'What the F*ck just happened?!'... okay maybe it wasn't her, but someone said it."

The account is not authorised by the Cavaliers nor by James, the NBA MVP, says the Free Press.

Pork on the fork blamed for failed drug test

Great Britain's 2009 world judo silver medallist Karina Byrant will not see her position upgraded to gold, despite champion Tong Wen being stripped of her title for failing a drugs test, that she blamed on eating too much pork, reports the
China Daily.

Tong, the women's 78kg gold medallist at the 2008 Olympics, was banned this week for two years after testing positive for clenbuterol. Her coach, however, believes food safety problems were responsible for the first positive test by a Chinese Olympic champion, saying: "She trained in Europe for a while and was sick of European food so we gave her a lot of pork chops when she returned home." Clenbuterol is a cheap chemical often illegally used as an additive to feed pigs in China. Unfortunately for Bryant, however, the International Judo Federation do not allow for medal upgrades due to their complicated repêchage system.

The Chinese swimmer Ouyang Kunpeng, who was banned for life ahead of the Beijing Olympics after a positive test for clenbuterol, also claims he had eaten too much pork while at a barbecue.